Coach Westphal’s opening statement: “When I watch the Pistons play, when I look at there talent and the way they play, I think they’re a playoff team in the east. I don’t think there is any doubt about it. They played really well. They shot the ball incredibly well and they hit big shots. I thought that we played well. We didn’t shoot the ball incredibly well, especially from the line and three point shots. We had open threes for really good shooters and went 2-18. Sometimes that’s the difference in a game in the NBA. You like to think that the difference is always how well you take care of the ball, how well you rebound, getting to the line more than the other team, drawing charges, rotating on defense- all that stuff, the tough things. We did all those things tonight. We didn’t make shots and they made shots. It was discouraging for us and at the same time encouraging because I thought we played well but you have to hit some of those shots to get over the hump.”

On whether the Kings took too many three point shots: “If they don’t go in! I mean, I understand the question, you know, it’s always easy to look at the stat sheet after the game and say oh, we took too many threes if they don’t go in. But we tell our shooters, guys like Cisco, guys like Omri, Luther Head, if you are a good three point shooter and you are open, you have to shoot it with confidence. When Omri made five out of six that one night, nobody said six threes is too many and tonight he’s taking the same shots and makes one out of five, I’m not one of those guys who are going to look at the stat sheet and say too many after the fact. You take your best shot and if it’s not good enough, you move onto the next game.”

On Jason Thompson: “I thought Thompson really showed why we like him so much. He got a DNP last game and he was ready tonight. He’s been ready all the time, he’s always ready, I thought he played very well, he’s very professional. I was real happy for him.”

On the teams play tonight: “I like the way we played. We ran our stuff, we moved the ball, we worked on defense, hit the boards. It was a nice effort by us. Sometimes you don’t get a win when you have a nice effort. If you get that effort, you can’t be upset with the players. They were working and they did a good job.”

On whether the team is working to improve at the free throw line: “That’s all we can do. (laughing) When we have practice, we don’t sit around playing soccer. We have free throw drills, shooting drills, and the guys work on their own. We have guys coming in late at night working on their free throws, working on their shot.”

This was an optimistically frustrated Paul Westphal tonight. The team is working extremely hard on both free throw and perimeter shooting every day in practice, I can show you the pictures. Some games the shots just don’t find the bottom of the net.

Players Notes and Quotes:

Tyreke Evans on his health right now: “I think my ankle, I have a bone spur. I just have to play through it, that’s part of the NBA.”

On whether the guys are sticking together through the losing streak: “We’re out there trying to fight and play together as a team. I think everybody knows their roles. We’re just not getting enough at the end to win the games.”

Jason Thompson on his play tonight: “Every time I come on the court, I try to bring a different presence with energy. I try to block shots and just take what the defense gives me.”

JT on going from a DNP to playing and trying to control his energy on the court: “I’m always excited, you just may not see it as much as you used to. But I control as much as I can control. I try to do as much as I can as long as I’m healthy and not in foul trouble, I think I can be productive for the team.”

JT on playing the power forward position tonight instead of the small forward position: “I played what I think is my natural position at the four. I felt good. I felt comfortable. I’m trying to do all the little things. I’m trying to hit jumpers, some moves to the basket- just play aggressive.”

JT on the DNP-CD against Phoenix and whether it was on his mind tonight: “I think it is. It’s something I’ve never experienced before, not even as a rookie. I just didn’t put my head down, I was like, what’s next. For me, I’m a different type of player. Even if I go through a little adversity, I’m always going to have my head up. It makes me work harder. I think I contributed to the team but I can do even more.”

Jason Thompson looked relieved tonight following the game. He is one of the most positive players I have met, and for him, sitting on the bench and not getting into the Phoenix game was a fate worse than death. Only time will tell how Coach Westphal and the Kings brass will handle the glut at the power forward and center position going forward. For tonight, Jason Thompson got to play and boy was he happy.

The Kings got off to a shaky start but center Samuel Dalembert kept them in it with a couple of early tip-ins. Carl Landry played aggressively, scoring eight points in the quarter. He did miss a pair of free throw that would have cut the lead to one late in the first. The Kings did not move the ball well, picking up only one assists to go with three turnovers. The assist number is slightly skewed when you factor in that the team only shot 34.8% from the field. After one, it’s a three point game.

The Kings began the second with five bench players. Jason Thompson made an appearance after spending last game on the bench for the first DNP=CD of his career. The grouping of Head, Wright, Thompson, Cousins and Garcia kept the Kings even while the starters got a nice long rest. Luther Head was feeling it in the first half, giving the Kings 9 much needed points off the bench. The Kings shot a miserable 5-11 (45.5%) from the free throw line over the first two quarters. Those points loom large in a five point game.

The Kings came out in the third with a lot more energy than they had in the first half. Carl Landry continued to punish the Pistons and Tyreke came out and seven third quarter points. Westphal went heavily to the bench again, bringing in the same group we saw in the second quarter. The Kings did a better job of hitting their free throws and raised their shooting percentage up to 46%. The Pistons lead by three after three quarter.

Charlie Villanueva came out firing in the fourth, banging down a 18 foot jumper followed by an elbow three to stretch the Pistons lead to eight at the 10:17 mark of the fourth. The Kings fought back, tying the game multiple times on the strong play of Jason Thompson and company. The Kings went back to the starters except for Casspi who was replaced by Garcia for the stretch run. They got the lead down to two inside a minute to play but Ben Gordan hit a back breaker of a three with 23.9 seconds left in the game. That was the nail in the coffin. Kings lose by six.

Player of the Game: This is a tough one. The co-players of the game are Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva. Both players hit huge shots in the fourth quarter to help put the Kings away. Gordon scored 16 points on six shots while Villanueva had five big points in the first two minutes of the fourth to push the Pistons lead to eight.

This makes a lot of sense when you factor in that Samuel Dalembert, Carl Landry and Darnell Jackson are all free agents at the end of the season. Thompson, considered a building block of the future last season, has seen his playing time diminish this season, hitting rock bottom on Friday night when he received his first DNP-CD of his career against Phoenix. Coach Westphal had this to say last night:

“I’m a big fan of JT. Right now, we have Sam and DeMarcus ahead of him at the five spot. Carl and Jackson ahead of him at the four spot and all of those guys played a reasonable amount minutes and didn’t have bad foul trouble so he didn’t get in at either of those spots. It’s pretty tough to expect him to play the three against the Suns, the way they’re constituted, so there were no minutes for him. It’s hard to not put him in the game, knowing what kind of player he is but there are only so many minutes to go around right now.”

When I asked Coach Westphal today at practice, he said that he thought Thompson would play against Detroit, he had these two statements to add:

“I think we’ll see him in there. I think Jason is a really good player and it’s really hard not to play him in that game.”

“I think Jason can bring a lot and we don’t want to have him get too many DNP’s, it’s just the way it worked that game.”

Coach Westphal is charged with the difficult task of balancing both the present and the future. Jason Thompson should still be considered part of the future unless a can’t miss deal comes the Kings way. For the present, Dalembert, Landry, Cousins and Jackson are playing the majority of the minutes. If the Kings don’t end their four game skid tomorrow against Detroit, that may change.

]]>https://jjham15.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/petrie-reacts-to-jason-thompson-rumors/feed/1jjham15Cousins' reaction to the criticism.https://jjham15.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/cousins-responds-to-the-national-media/
https://jjham15.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/cousins-responds-to-the-national-media/#commentsSun, 14 Nov 2010 00:51:50 +0000http://hardcourtmayhem.com/kings/?p=1865Continue reading →]]>After practice today, Kings rookie center DeMarcus Cousins was asked about the negative portrayal of him in the national media over the last few days. He stood in tall and answered the criticism:

It’s bull. You haven’t heard it from us. It’s like me saying Tupac is alive so go write a story on that. I mean it’s rumors. You see us in here. You see us in here and everybody gets along. They said I had a fight with Truck, me and Truck work out everyday before the game so I mean, it’s rumors.

Cousins on whether what happens in the locker should stay in the locker room:

Yeah, I am. We’re a team and also a family and families have problems and they go through things. The rumors that got put out there, they’re ridiculous.

DeMarcus was not specifically asked, nor did he answer if he was fined during the pre-season as reported by both Marc Stein and Sam Amick.

For what it is worth, I have seen him in the practice facility every day the Kings have held practice for the last six weeks and I have not seen DeMarcus Cousins have an issue with anyone of his teammates or coaches. There are plenty of times where we are not allowed to see the team in action but I have yet to see residual effects of an altercation when we are allowed in.

I will have more on today’s practice in a few, including quotes from coach Westphal.

Samuel Dalembert came out strong, taking Robin Lopez off the dribble for a lay-up to start the game. Jason Richardson, the resident Kings killer, missed four of his first seven shots, including two wide open three pointers. Nash and Udrih went toe to toe for a stint but Nash showed why he is a hall of famer, going for ten points, five rebounds and six assists in the first. The Suns have a remarkable three rebound advantage to go with a six point lead at the end of the first.

The Suns bench put the metal down in the fourth, pushing the lead to nine at the six minute mark. DeMarcus Cousins had a nice spin move and dunk on the baseline to get the first “throw it down big man!” by the Kings new broadcast addition Bill Walton. The Kings continued to play the same isolation basketball that has hurt them over the last three games. They did a better job controlling the glass in the second, taking a four rebound advantage but they need to get the ball down low to their post scorers. The Kings shot 2-11 from three point range, clearly the Suns are gave up the perimeter in order to stop the Kings penetration and post offense. Steve Nash continued his spectacular night finishing the half with 17 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead the Suns nine point advantage after two quarters.

The third quarter was a wild ride. The Suns pushed the lead to 14 early, the Kings cut it to four at one point but pushed the lead back to nine to finish the third. The Kings went to DeMarcus Cousins early and he played well with the starters. During the third, Udrih scoring on a myriad of pull up jumpers while Casspi hit two big three’s to keep it close. The Kings played the Suns straight up in the quarter but that is not what they needed when they started with a nine point deficit.

The Kings made it close a couple of times, cutting the lead down to three a couple of times but the Suns just kept scoring. Steve Nash was unbelievable from start to finish. Carl Landry did his best to keep the Kings close late, going for 20 points and 11 rebounds but it wasn’t enough. The Suns pulled away late with Hakim Warrick putting on a nice dunking exhibition. Suns win by 14, pushing the Kings losing streak to four.

Kings Lose!

Kings 89 Suns 103

Leaders

Kings: Landry (20) Points; Landry (11) Rebounds; Evans (9) Assists.

Suns: Nash (28) Points; Richardson (8) Rebounds; Nash (14) Assists.

FG%: Kings 40.9% Suns 51.9%

Rebounds: Kings 50 Suns 42

Assists/TO: Kings 18/11 Suns 19/11

Stats that Stick Out

Antoine Wright played 10 minutes, going 0-3 from the field with a turnover.

Jason Thompson received his first DNP-CD of his career. Coach Westphal discusses this below but it is still a tough pill to swallow for the third year forward/center.

Donté Greene received a DNP_CD as well, his third in seven games this season.

Carl Landry scored 20 points and had 11 rebounds including 7 offensive boards. I’m not going to guess how many of those offensive rebounds came on his own misses.

The Kings hit 12-19 free throws for a whopping 63.2%.

Coaches Notes and Quotes

Coach Westphal on the effort tonight against the Suns: “I have to say, I can’t really find a whole lot of fault with our team, or effort. We’ve been having turnover problems the last couple game, we kept our turnovers to a minimum. We got good shots. We got good shots for good shooters. We hit the offensive boards. We got second shots. We missed too much but that is not an effort thing, that’s basketball. On the other end, we were the victim of a hall of fame player having a hall of fame night. Steve Nash was unspeakably sensational with his decision making and his execution. We tried double teaming him, we tried making him score and taking away his other options, we tried zoning. Everything we tried he had the answer and if I wasn’t sitting on the visitors bench, I would have applauded him, because it was an unbelievable performance by Nash. I was proud of my team, we just weren’t good enough tonight.”

On whether the team make progress tonight: “It was progress, I’m never happy to lose but I’m happy with the way we competed, the way we executed, the way we played together. We need to make more shots and that’s NBA basketball. If our guys give that kind of effort, we’re going to win a lot of games.”

On Jason Thompson not playing tonight: “I’m a big fan of JT. Right now, we have Sam and DeMarcus ahead of him at the five spot. Carl and Jackson ahead of him at the four spot and all of those guys played a reasonable amount minutes and didn’t have bad foul trouble so he didn’t get in at either of those spots. It’s pretty tough to expect him to play the three against the Suns, the way they’re constituted, so there were no minutes for him. It’s hard to not put him in the game, knowing what kind of player he is but there are only so many minutes to go around right now.”

The Difference Maker: Hakim Warrick played really well in his 23 minutes, scoring 18 points on 6-8 shooting and 6-7 from the line. He was all over the offensive end in the fourth quarter, helping Steve Nash to end any run the Kings had in them.

Both teams come in with a 3-4 record in their first seven games. The Suns lost Amaré Stoudmire in free agency this summer and filled that void by trading for Hedo Turkoglu and signing Hakim Warrick. The combo has combined to score 22.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game but neither is a true power forward. It will be interesting to see how the pair match up against the size of the Kings front line.

The 36 year old Steve Nash continues to defy his age, scoring an impressive 18.7 points per game while chipping in his standard 8.9 assists per game. Jason Richardson has long been a King killer and it will be interesting to see how the Kings play him with Tyreke Evans recent penchant for getting in foul trouble.

This is no longer the upper echelon Phoenix Suns team that we have grown accustom to over the last decade. They are scoring like the Suns of old at 108.3 points per game but they are giving up 109.6 on the defensive end. On a positive, the Suns are shooting a quality 39% from behind the arc which bodes well when you consider the Kings are allowing their opponent to shoot 40.5% from deep.

The Kings need to get back to basics. The Suns are a team that struggles inside and on the glass. The Kings should have no problem getting baskets at or near the hoop and they should dominate this team on the boards. The rotation of Dalembert, Landry, Cousins, Jackson and Thompson need to get position down low and the guards need to use their bigs to dictate the pace of the game.

The Kings need both Tyreke Evans and Carl Landry to come around in this one after both players have gotten off to a slow start. After losing the last three games at home, the Kings a win on the road against a much smaller opponent.

Sorry, my notes and quotes are not only late but pretty brief today. As opposed to most evenings where I sit in the media box up stairs, I had the privilege of sitting in row AAA with Sactown Royalty’s BetweenTheEyes last night, which was a great treat. For once this season, I took in the game as a fan which was nice and heaven forbid, I may have even had an adult beverage to wash down the stench of defeat.

Coaches Notes and Quotes

On the loss: “From 17 wins two years ago, to 25 wins last year, to whatever this year holds in store, nobody ever said this was going to be a straight rocket ship ride to the top. As we try to climb this mountain, we know there are going to be set backs and this certainly was one of them. We think we can play a lot better than we played tonight but we didn’t. The excessive turnovers, the players trying to do things that are not their strengths- we are not playing to our strengths either individually or as a team. And you can see guys trying but as they try, we are pulling apart rather than pulling together. We have to get through that tendency in order to be the team we think we can be and the team that we want to be.”

On Michael Beasley’s big night: “Obviously Michael Beasley was somebody we didn’t have success at all guarding tonight. We tried pretty much every we could try and he had the answers and when we distorted our defense too much, they had a few other players come in and make shots when they need them.”

On the turnover issues: “I don’t think there is any one answer. Each individual turnover you can look at as its own world but at the same time, it’s too many. I think that we are impatiently trying to break the offense off too soon and go on our own too often. We have big guys dribbling when they should be passing and letting the little guys dribble up the floor. We’ve got people going one on one into a crowd rather than seeing the defense and passing the extra pass or two. We’re just not playing together, playing to our strengths, the way I see us doing in practice or the way we did it in the first few games so we will keep working.”

On Tyreke Evans tonight: “Tyreke had one of those games. They were really packing the paint on him and he wasn’t jump stopping properly. Maybe there isn’t that much contact and the guy flopped- I don’t know. He ended up with way too many offensive fouls and then a couple when he was trying to turn the game around offensively, he got caught trying to go for a steal for a couple of cheap fouls that if he gets the steal, great, but in that situation, you can’t.”

On the struggles of DeMarcus Cousins: “I don’t know that I have all the answers for DeMarcus. He is a very talented player, we love having him on the team. He has a lot of options and I don’t think he’s really playing to the right options right now. He’s having a hard time figuring the rhythm that’s necessary, the intensity and the rhythm at various times. Maybe it’s hard to bring it off the bench but those are the things you have to figure out as a young player. He’ll be fine.”

On leaving Tyreke with nine minutes left in the game with five fouls: “I just put him in and he played like ten seconds or something and he picked it up. I’ve seen guys essentially foul out because you keep them on the bench the whole game. He’s our guy and it’s time for us to try and win the game. I wanted him to play. I needed him to play.”

On Dalembert’s big game: “He’s getting in shape. He’s really good at rolling for those lobs and we found him a few times. He’s good on the offensive boards and he can hit an open shot. I think that was not an a-typical game for him, he can have games like that offensively and his defense and enthusiasm was really good for us. It’s nice that he put in that kind of game and I think we’ll see more of that from him.”

On the struggles of Carl Landry: “Yeah, I am concerned, because I have great in Carl. I said in training camp, I think sometimes that the coaching staff has more confidence in Carl than he does. I think he is a top level offensive player and right now, he seems to be losing his aggressiveness and I think it effects him on both ends of the floor. I think Carl is going to be fine, he’s got too much of a track record but he doesn’t look as aggressive as he needs to be right now.”

On the strong play of Darnell Jackson: “Darnell has been one of the bright spots on our team every night. Every day at practice and every night. It’s hard for me to justify to myself, when he is sitting on the bench. I like having him in the game.”

Over the last week, we have seen three different sides to Coach Westphal in the post game interview. After the Lakers loss, he was noticeably upset with not only the outcome but the performance of his team. Following the Grizzly loss, we saw an optimistic coach who was very complimentary of both his own and the opposing teams players. Tonight, it was a more toned down, somber Westphal which is to be expected after a loss to a 1-7 team, in the second night of a back to back, for a third consecutive home defeat.

The Kings take on Phoenix on the road Friday night and then come back home to play a matinee against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday. The Kings have released some great prices for Sunday’s game so come on out and cheer on your Kings. If you missed our game recap from earlier, you can find it here and here is a link to yesterdays marathon on Donté Greene.

The first quarter belonged to Michael Beasley. The T-Wolves small forward shot a blistering 8-11 from the field and cut through every player the Kings threw at him including Omri Casspi and the seldom used Donté Greene. Coach Westphal replaced the ineffective Carl Landry at the six minute mark after he went 0-4. Rookie DeMarcus Cousins came in and scored five points and three rebounds in his six minutes. A late flurry by the T-Wolves pushed the lead to five to end the first.

The Kings figured out the way to slow Beasley- have him sit out the first 4:18 of the quarter. Kings reserve forward Darnell Jackson came off the bench to light a fire under the Kings, scoring nine points in the quarter. Francisco Garcia added ten points but missed four of his five three point attempts. Beasley continued his big night, finishing the half with 27 and four rebounds to help the Wolves push the lead to six.

Like the first two quarters, Michael Beasley came out burning hot in the third, scoring eight points to pace the Wolves. The Kings answered with nine from Casspi and six from Udrih as the lead went back and forth. Antoine Wright made first appearance for the Kings after last weeks arrest, playing a total of one minute 44 seconds while Westphal threw everything but the kitchen sink at Beasley. Sebastian Telfair added six points by breaking down the defense and hitting short jumpers. T-Wolves continued to lead but the Kings cut it to two to end the third.

The wheels fell off the bus for the Kings in the fourth. After being limited to just 27 minutes of play due to foul trouble, Kings second year guard Tyreke Evans fouled out at the 9:02 mark in the fourth, ending one of the worst offensive games of his career. The T-Wolves pulled away, getting another seven points from Beasley to push his total to 42. Casspi scored six in the fourth but missed a big three pointer at the 2:20 mark that would have made it close. Samuel Dalembert had his best all around game of the young season, kicking in 14 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. The T-Wolves pulled away beating the home team soundly by nine.

Player of the Game- Michael Beasley, by a long shot. Beasley began the game shooting 8-11 from the field in the first quarter. Coach Westphal used Casspi, Greene, Thompson, Garcia and Wright as well as zone defenses to slow him to no avail. Of the players charged with defending him, Jason Thompson did the best job, playing him most of the second quarter and holding him to seven points during that stint.

Game Changer- Sebastian Telfair scored 16 points for the game and although he was the only point guard on the roster and only came up with one assists, he was the game changer tonight. Telfair answered the Kings crucial runs with short jumpers and quick moves to the basket to compliment the shooting display by Beasley.

Coming into training camp, the Kings had a handful of player position battles/questions that needed to be answered. By far, the hottest topic was who would be the starting small forward when the season kicked off. I didn’t always phrase the question the same way, but I got the rep around camp as the guy who was always asking the coach about who the starter would be. I even had a member of the Kings media relations team, ask me one day why I was so interested in who was going to start, even though training camp was only a couple of weeks in. I had a very simple answer for him. It’s what sells.

Team Omri anyone?

The battle for the starting small forward spot took on a Twilight-esque – Team Donté versus Team Omri debate amongst the Sacramento faithful. Kings fans begged for news on two things- the small forward competition and video of Tyreke Evans shooting jump shot. So everyday I would ask, in one of a million different ways, who was going to start, and everyday, Coach Westphal refused to outright answer, but he would feed us crumbs of information to keep the interest alive.

The Prerequisite

Little by little, Coach Westphal used me and the other members of the media to filter a message out to the public and quite possibly back to his players. If one of these players didn’t receive the internal memo, Coach made sure to repeat the message to a face full of voice recorders and digital video cameras:

“The small forward battle is wide open- I talked to the team about it today. We need the small forward to defend the best athletes in the world. It might be LeBron James one night, Kevin Durant the next night, Kobe the next night, Genobili the next night. They’ve got to be up for that challenge. That’s the number one thing, and the co-number one thing is that they need to be able to hit an open shot. We are looking for somebody that can answer that call in those areas. We don’t need somebody who is a #1 primary offensive option whether in reality or in their own mind. We need somebody who’s going to get the ball inside, knock down open shots and be a good catalyst for the team. We’ll see who emerges.”

The message was clear: shoot + defend = starting position. We need not speculate on who the Coach was speaking of with the, “We don’t need somebody who is a #1 primary offensive option whether in reality or in their own mind” comment. That’s not what we do here at The Purple Panjandrum.

Kings Open Practice.

The Battle

When the Kings came out for their Open Practice, the starters were Marcus Landry and Donté Greene. Really? Omri can’t even get a sniff when there are two starting spots available? Needless to say, the media, Team Omri fans and probably even Casspi himself were left confused, possibly even dumbfounded.

Marcus Landry received a couple more starts in pre-season games one and two and then veteran Antoine Wright took a turn. In game four of the pre-season, Donté Greene got the call and logic would seem to dictate that with three games left, Casspi would at least get one chance to start since he was one of the players in the competition. After the Kings and Warriors pre-season game in Sacramento on October 13, I asked the coach about whether or not Omri Casspi would get a shot to start one of the remaining three pre-season games and this is what he had to say:

“I like Casspi off the bench, I’ve said that a lot. I think he gives us a really nice lift that way. I’m not ready to answer your question completely but I do like him off the bench.”

The Victor

This quote made the rounds amongst local and national media outlets, but there was a misconception about this statement. While it was rightfully believed that Donté Greene had won the starting small forward position for the first game of the season, more importantly, Omri Casspi had quietly won a more significant role in Coach Westphal’s book, the role of primary scoring option off the bench. On October 14th, Westphal confirmed the starters for opening night:

“If we’re healthy, we’ll start with Beno, and Cisco and Donté and Carl and DeMarcus the first game. And then when Tyreke comes back, he’ll start in place of Cisco.”

Team Donté fans cheered and Team Omri fans were faced with the feeling that not only had their guy lost, but he never really got his chance to shine.

Donté Greene.

The Unanswered Questions

Team Casspi fans had other gripes as well. Donté Greene came into training camp weighing 260-pounds which is approximately 25 to 30 pounds heavier than his previous playing weight. Greene admitted that some of the weight gain was the unhealthy kind, but he refused to acknowledge that this was an issue or that he was wrong to gain the weight:

Yeah, you can kind of be confused, especially when, you know, the weight, it wasn’t really a bad thing. But the Coach is the head coach and I’m a worker, so if the weight had to come off, it had to come off and I’m ready now.

Greene stands between 6′-10″ and 6′-11″ tall, so his frame could easily handle the weight if he were to play in the post, but as a wing defender who is supposed to guard elite athletes night in and night out, there was no reason for Greene to add the bulk. Greene spent the better part of the first three weeks of training camp doing massive amounts of cardio work to get back in shape, while Omri Casspi, Francisco Garcia and Luther Head were working on skills like improving their three point accuracy. At last check, Donté was down to an estimated 240-pounds, still 5 to 10 pounds heavier than his previous playing weight. When asked about the weight gain, Greene told us here at The Purple Panjandrum:

“I wasn’t in the greatest shape. I wasn’t in as good a shape as I was in last year. I know last season, I came into camp in great shape.”

Obviously, the weight issue was not the end all for Coach Westphal. Greene beat out two other quality players in Antoine Wright and Marcus Landry (who ended up not making the team) to earn the starting position.

The Donté Greene experiment lasted one game.

The Change

It’s not that Greene did anything that should be considered wrong in that one start, but he didn’t do anything to distinguish himself either. One game is too small of a sample for anyone so there must be something more at play here.

In the second game of the season, Omri Casspi was named the starter for the Sacramento Kings and has continued as the starter since. In a perplexing turn of events, Donté Greene has found himself not only out of the starting line-up but by game number three, out of the rotation completely, playing a total of 5.9 seconds in the last four games.

In the dog eat dog world of the NBA, this is about as tough as it gets. As confused and befuddled as the Team Omri folks were a week earlier, Team Donté fans must be equally confused now, but only because they weren’t paying attention.

The Reasoning

Let me break down the events that have led to where we are today.

Donté Greene has tremendous size and loads of potential. Unfortunately, he came into camp completely out of shape when he was given the biggest opportunity of his young career. Add to this that Greene missed extremely valuable time working himself back into shape while Omri Casspi and others were busy fine tuning their game and you begin to realize just how big of a mistake this was.

So why after just one game? There is an easy answer and a few more complex ones as well.

First, Tyreke Evans was suspended for the first game of the season and Samuel Dalembert, the Kings starting center, missed the game due to injury. This meant that there was more than 60 minutes of play available for someone to take.

Francisco Garcia.

Garcia started at the shooting guard position in place of Beno Udrih, who was starting at the point guard position for Tyreke Evans. Francisco would normally play both the shooting guard and the small forward position, so his addition to the starting line-up removed a valuable bench contributor.

The guy who filled Francisco Garcia’s minutes off the bench was veteran Luther Head. Luther used his 20 minutes of play to score 14 points, grab three rebounds and dish out three assists.

Garcia and Head combined for 36 points, six rebounds and seven assists, giving Coach Westphal a sneak peak of the fire power he just might be able to get off the bench. With this type of potential, the decision to move Omri Casspi into the starting role became a lot easier.

Here are Westphal’s post-game comments after the second game of the year against New Jersey, in which Casspi started:

“I like his energy off the bench and his ability to shoot the ball for us off the bench, but with Luther playing better and with Cisco, with us learning Luther’s game and thinking he can give us some punch off the bench, I don’t think that it’s as important to bring Omri off. He’s been doing a good job defensively and trying to do what we want him to do so I thought it was a better fit now that we have our whole team back to go that way.”

Although Casspi missed all five of his three point shots in his first game as a starter, the mere fact that he took five helped stretch the defense. In start number two, Casspi showed why Coach Westphal penned him into the starting line-up. The second year forward scored twenty points on 5 of 6 three point shooting. Defensively, Casspi has been all over the court. Rudy Gay got the best of him, but he also spent the summer playing for the national team and looks like he is worth every dime of the huge contract extension he signed this summer.

The Repercussions

I think all of these factors help to explain why Donté Greene is no longer the starter, but it falls short of explaining why he is no longer in the rotation. So we must continue.

Samuel Dalembert missed game one coming back from an injured adductor, but it took him until game six to be completely healthy and ready to take over the starting center position. Kings rookie DeMarcus Cousins held down the fort the best he could in Dalembert’s absence, but unfortunately, he was constantly in foul trouble.

With Cousins in foul trouble, seldom used forward/center Darnell Jackson stepped on the floor for the Kings and made an immediate impact. His ability to defend, rebound, set picks and hit an occasional jumper has earned him a spot in the rotation.

With both Dalembert and Cousins playing the center position and Carl Landry and Darnell Jackson playing the minutes at the power forward position, Kings third year 6′-11″ power forward/center Jason Thompson has been forced to get his minutes elsewhere. Coach Westphal is trying out Thompson at the small forward behind Casspi in lieu of Greene.

Following practice on November 5th, Coach Westphal spoke to Greene’s role on the team:

“Right now, to give a short answer, he is probably the 11 or 12 man on a 9 or 10 man rotation. That doesn’t mean that is a death sentence and it doesn’t mean that it will be that way forever, but he is a young player and he’s a versatile young player and he has a lot of ability and a lot of potential, but he’s got a few guys ahead of him right now- that’s all.”

The Opinion

Donté Greene.

Although Donté Greene’s career in Sacramento isn’t over, he alone opened a door that had no business being opened. By coming into camp out of shape, he fell behind. While he was struggling to get in better physical and mental shape, Casspi earned his minutes while Garcia, Head and Jackson filled some gaping holes in the team’s bench rotation.

Being around the team for the entire training camp, I can make these assertions: Darnell Jackson was amazing from the first to the last day of camp. Francisco Garcia is the best shooter on the team. Jason Thompson not only came into camp in great shape, but gave Carl Landry everything he could handle in the battle for the starting power forward spot. Luther Head, once he got his legs back, has done an amazing job defending multiple positions and giving the team that spark they need off the bench.

Lastly, I will make this statement of opinion which is typically something I avoid here at TPP– Omri Casspi beat Donté Greene out during camp for the starting small forward spot. The reason Casspi did not start game one was because Coach Westphal thought he needed his scoring off the bench which the Coach has said repeatedly. That proved not to be the case and everything else has fallen into place.

I believe Coach Westphal when he says that Donté Greene is the 11th or 12th man on the Kings roster. Further, I agree with Coach Westphal that Evans, Udrih, Casspi, Landry, Dalembert, Head, Garcia, Thompson, Jackson and Cousins are all better fits and better players at this point in the season. I would even go so far as to say that with Antoine Wright’s experience as a defender, he would be called on before Greene in most situations. All of this can change, certainly, but it will be up to Donté Greene to earn his way back into the rotation.

]]>https://jjham15.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/the-donte-greene-conundrum/feed/2jjham15DSC_0010DSC_0006DSC_0016DSC_0054DSC_0086Luther Head back at practice.https://jjham15.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/luther-head-back-at-practice/
https://jjham15.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/luther-head-back-at-practice/#respondTue, 09 Nov 2010 22:40:15 +0000http://hardcourtmayhem.com/kings/?p=1758Continue reading →]]>After missing Fridays game to tend to personal business, Kings guard Luther Head is back at practice and according to my sources, it will be a game day decision as to who will be active for tomorrow nights game against Minnesota. The 27 year old Head is averaging 6.4 points and 3.4 assists in a little over 18 minutes a game. Luther has provided a nice spark off the bench which has allowed coach Wetphal to make some other moves like starting second year small forward Omri Casspi instead of bringing him off the bench.
]]>https://jjham15.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/luther-head-back-at-practice/feed/0jjham15